The deputy CEO of Swedish payments firm Klarna is leaving the company

Adalberth will remain on Klarna's board. Klarna Niklas Adalberth, one of the original founders of the billion-dollar Swedish payments Klarna, has decided to step down from his role as deputy CEO.

A Klarna spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that Adalberth is leaving the company:

"Niklas has made the decision to continue to contribute to Klarna by remaining an active board member and long-term owner, and will step down from his operational responsibilities."

"Niklas is a fundamental part of the trio that founded Klarna, which now consists of 1200 employees on 18 markets serving more than 50 000 merchants. Niklas will focus on social entrepreneurship and the world is lucky to have him."

His decision means that CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski will be the only one of Klarna's original founders to remain. Former CFO and fellow founder Victor Jacobsson left Klarna in 2012 but has remained on the company's board of directors.

News of Adalberth's departure came just days after Klarna launched in the US with 10 American companies including Overstock.com.

Adalberth told Swedish publication Digital that he has spent a third of his life at Klarna, and is now ready to try new things. He will first take a long-awaited holiday, then start focusing on non-profit work.

"I have some ideas that are too exciting to not try. I think I learned a lot about tech and to build a company. [I want to] get that know-how into a world that does not have as much. I think I can do good," he said. "I do not want to die with a bag of money in my account and I do not want my children to grow up with a bag of money in their account."

"There will never be a good time to leave. I have always thought "two years" — we'll just ready this or get over that hump. But now we have a good team in place and a technology platform that has taken the next big step. The US launch is done and we also have new investors."

The company was valued at $1.4 billion (£912 million) in 2014, and has attracted money from Silicon Valley's renowned venture capital fund Sequoia Capital. In August, venture capital firm Northzone, mutual fund Wellington Management Co. and foundation Wellcome Trust bought about $80 million (£52 million) worth of stock in a secondary offering that valued the company at $2.25 billion.